How to Seduce a Duke Read Online Free PDF Page A

to Mary. “No, you have the right of it, miss. You are the Royle family, are you not?”
    “Why yes, we are,” Mary began. “But we—”
    The manservant broke in as if he did not hear her. “As I said, Miss Royle , if you will all please follow me, I will take you to my lady.”
    “Stop, please! We have not come to see a lady. ” Anne, who was clearly growing impatient, folded her arms over her chest.
    “We have come to call upon our guardian, a gentleman... um... Lord Lotharian .” In her confusion, Elizabeth ’s brilliant green eyes had grown as large and round as the manservant’s.
    “Quite right.” The manservant nodded his head. “And you shall see his lordship soon. Right this way, if you please.”
    Elizabeth and Anne each clutched one of Mary’s arms—for support, or to ensure she wouldn’t turn on her heels and escape, Mary wasn’t sure—and they followed the squat little man down a long passage and into an expansive library.
    Leather-bound books filled the shelves to the gold-framed mural painted on the ceiling. A mingling of leather polish, candle wax, and mustiness permeated the cool air of the room.
    In the center of the rectangular chamber, a diminutive, elderly, onion-shaped woman sat upon a silk-sheathed settee blinking up at them.
    So startlingly small was she, other than in girth, that her dainty slippers did not come close to reaching the Turkish carpet stretched across the floor.
    The manservant walked into the middle of the room and promptly announced them. “My lady, the Misses Royle .” Then he quickly quit the room.
    The old woman on the settee grew noticeably excited. “Oh, oh, at last I can see you with my own eyes. I am so glad that you have come—we weren’t sure that you would, you know. But here you are and every bit as beautiful as I imagined. I have heard so much about you three gels, so much!” Her little feet, shod in silk slippers with surprisingly high heels, kicked merrily.
    Her hand dropped down below the curved arm of the settee and pulled a wooden lever. At once a tufted footstool shot out from beneath the settee. The round lady hopped down upon it, then stepped lightly to the carpet.
    “Stand up straight and let me see you properly. So lithe you all are. Tall, too, all of you!” The old woman’s gaze fixed on Mary. “Which are you, dear?”
    “I-I am Mary.” Her cheeks began to heat, especially when the old woman raised a lorgnette and studied her. She did not like one bit being the subject of scrutiny, especially by someone she did not know.
    “Since you are triplets, I had expected you to greatly resemble one another, but you don’t. The color of your hair is completely different. Even the shape of your faces—not at all alike.”
    The old woman turned her lorgnette upon each of the sisters.
    “No, you are as different as morn,
noon
, and eve. Only your commanding height and your eyes give your kinship away.”
    She turned back to Mary. “Look at you, gel, such long, dark hair, and why, you are nearly the height of a man.” The short woman chuckled with delight. “You have the blood for certain. Spectacular height often reveals itself in women of royal lineage.”
    “Really?” Elizabeth was clearly enthralled.
    “Oh, indeed.” The lady turned her gaze upon Elizabeth . She waddled close, then stood on the tips of her toes to finger Elizabeth ’s bright copper hair. “You must be Elizabeth . Look at that fiery crown of yours. Queen Elizabeth had hair like yours, dear—and she stood nearly six feet in height.”
    Elizabeth gave Mary a smug look.
    Oh, good Lord. Mary fought the urge to roll her eyes. As if any of these inane observations mean anything.
    The lady followed Elizabeth ’s gaze, then added, “Her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, quite matched her height, you know.”
    Then the woman’s pale gray eyes sought out Anne. “Ah, such delicate features, and hair like spun gold. Beautiful, so, so beautiful.”
    Anne colored